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Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, which has been associated with the proverbial advice "to choose the lesser of two evils". [1] Several other idioms such as " on the horns of a dilemma ", "between the devil and the deep blue sea", and "between a rock and a hard place" express similar meanings. [ 2 ]
Scylla as a maiden with a kētos tail and dog heads sprouting from her body. Detail from a red-figure bell-crater in the Louvre, 450–425 BC. This form of Scylla was prevalent in ancient depictions, though very different from the description in Homer, where she is land-based and more dragon-like.
Charybdis, along with the sea monster Scylla, appears as a challenge to epic characters such as Odysseus, Jason, and Aeneas. Scholarship locates her in the Strait of Messina. The idiom "between Scylla and Charybdis" has come to mean being forced to choose between two similarly dangerous situations.
Between Scylla and Charybdis" is an idiom derived from Homer's Odyssey. In the story, Odysseus chose to go near Scylla as the lesser of two evils. He lost six of his companions, but if he had gone near Charybdis all would be doomed. Because of such stories, having to navigate between the two hazards eventually entered idiomatic use.
Next was the pass of Scylla and Charybdis where he lost part of his ship's crew. The rest landed in the isle Thrinacia, sacred to Helios (the Sun) where he kept sacred cattle. Though Odysseus warned his men not to (as Tiresias had told him), they killed and ate some of the cattle after Zeus placed Odysseus in his sleep to test his crew.
In Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus (/ ə ˈ d ɪ s i ə s / ə-DISS-ee-əs; [1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, romanized: Odysseús, Odyseús, IPA: [o.dy(s).sěu̯s]), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses (/ juː ˈ l ɪ s iː z / yoo-LISS-eez, UK also / ˈ juː l ɪ s iː z / YOO-liss-eez; Latin: Ulysses, Ulixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of ...
The return journey in Book 4, for example, has many parallels in the Odyssey – Scylla, Charybdis, the Sirens and Circe are hazards that Odysseus also negotiates. The Argonautica is notable too for the high number of verses and phrases imitating Homer, and for the way it reproduces linguistic peculiarities of old epic, in syntax, metre ...
In some versions Scylla pursued the departing enemy; in others he bound her to the prow of his ship. Before drowning, Scylla was transformed into a seabird (ciris, perhaps an egret), relentlessly pursued by her father, who was transformed into a sea eagle (haliaeetus). [5] Scylla's story is a close parallel to that of Comaetho, daughter of ...